Put a Little Effort in
by Bleach-ed-Na-tsu
Summary: It was rare that Iemitsu and Tsuna sat down at all in civility. So when one evening they do, Tsuna finally says his piece. He is neither angry, nor disappointed anymore, because yes Vongola Intuition was brutal about heirs, and the incompatibility of their flames left Iemitsu with few choices but to remain in Italy; but had he put a little effort in things could have been different


**So this might be a slight deviation from my normal Iemitsu Bashing. It's still bashing him, but it's a bit more of a contemplative piece really. You may recognize some of the themes here from my other fics, this is more to comprehensively explain my theory while exploring the idea.**

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Put a Little Effort In.

 **Summary** : It was rare that Iemitsu and Tsuna sat down at all in civility. So when one evening they do, Tsuna finally says his piece. He is neither angry, nor disappointed anymore, because yes Vongola Intuition was brutal about heirs, and the incompatibility of their flames left Iemitsu with few choices but to remain in Italy; but had he put a little effort in things could have been different.

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Tsuna was sitting in the secluded reading nook on the second floor of the mansion, it had two cozy brown leather couches and a wingback chair in red. There were three bookshelves stacked with the Guardians' and family's personal books, as well as a coffee table and two side tables. Tsuna was enjoying a macchiato in the early afternoon while he waited for Reborn and Mukuro to be done with a meeting before they headed to Parma for some suit shopping and alterations. It was a rare moment of quiet, especially since it was the afternoon. Tsuna was reading a quiet book called the Opposite of Loneliness and could definitely relate to many of the sentiments within it.

It wasn't unusual for a member of staff or one of the guardians to sit with him in these quiet moments, though mostly people allows him his private reprieve when they saw him seated in the nook.

"Good afternoon, Tsuna."

Placing a bookmark into the book. Tsuna looked up with a neutral expression. "Good afternoon Tou-san."

* * *

Surprisingly, the conversation was not bad, it was quiet and comfortable. They discussed stocks, and branding. Iemitsu let Tsuna in on some of the matter that would be coming up in the next house meeting, and Tsuna mentioned a couple of changes Iemitsu should prepare for.

Nothing serious, nothing tense. It was a good conversation.

And that's something that Tsuna had discovered in the last four years. He had moved into the Vongola mansion and taken over most of the operations when he was sixteen; a surprise to most of the famiglia outside of Reborn and the guardians. The Ninth was waning and has disclosed in very few exactly how much he needed Tsuna to take over, and Tsuna had known this instinctively. So after a short six month probation and training session with the Ninth generation Tsuna took over most operations.

This meant that Basil – and Kyouya, because Basil would not remain in CEDEF as a leader for long – were not ready to take over CEDEF yet. SO Tsuna was in increasing meetings with Iemitsu, and would be for another year while the Mafia settled to the new rule, and Kyouya finished clearing house and installing his own men.

But, surprising as it was, Tsuna found that where Iemitsu failed as a father, he was an incredibly good employee and boss. He was hard and stern yes, but he listened to his squads and did his best to be accommodating. Iemitsu expected the best from his men and women, but he wasn't a hardass mafia man who didn't understand extenuating circumstances.

And in meetings with Iemitsu he kept a keen professionalism, especially when Tsuna set that precedent in his first official family meeting as boss. Yes, Iemitsu had many grievances with how Tsuna ran his ship: Tsuna was too compassionate, he didn't run a good business, he wasn't quick enough to dismiss those small famiglia who didn't uphold their bargain, and too quick to dismiss old famiglia who made similar mistakes.

Iemitsu hummed, sipping the coffee he had ordered from a passing staff member. "It is such a relief that your flames have simmered down in recent years." He began and Tsuna immediately tensed.

Overall Iemitsu kept a professionalism that made Tsuna's life easier and so, when it came to business Tsuna had no problem dealing with the CEDEF head. It was his _father,_ and conversations like this that Tsuna had trouble dealing with.

"Is that so?"

"It would make working with you extremely difficult." Iemitsu explained. "When you were a baby I couldn't even breathe when you were in the house. My flames were so focused on your every shift. I was bordering on insanity that first month I stayed home with Nana."

Tsuna hummed too, this was a story he had heard over and over. Iemitsu had screamed about it once when Tsuna and he got into a physical altercation. Iemitsu had called it training, but Tsuna thought it was a bit of an assault. "So you left. Your Intuition was focused on _protecting_ me, protecting the _heir_ , and so you left."

It was obvious from the scowl on Iemitsu's face that the blond man did not like the tone Tsuna had taken with him. "Tsunayoshi, you wouldn't understand."

"No." Tsuna did not growl, or yell, or even change his tone. "I would, I have children. Not heirs, but I have those vulnerable that my flames have deemed _my own._ " Iemitsu stilled, understanding dawning. "I know the power of the Vongola Intuition, I understand the insanity that creeps in when your vulnerable ones are hurt; even a papercut on Lambo or I-Pin makes me a very irritable and furious man, Iemitsu. Do not presume that because I do not have an heir yet that I don't _feel_ the burn. My flames have always been more than the others of Vongola."

Iemitsu is still angry, Tsuna could see it in the fold of his eyebrows. "Then you can't imagine what it was like for me, Tsuna. If you think that the _minor_ burn you feel towards your guardians is what **true** Vongola Intuition is like, you have no idea, it's-,"

"Then surely being close is better for dealing with your intuition!" Tsuna finally snaps, not letting Iemitsu continue. His rant is semantical now if he won't _listen_ to what Tsuna is saying. "Being away from the kids drives me mad. At least if they're close at least I know _I_ can protect them; when they're away from me I don't know whose protecting them."

Pausing with a thought of how to explain why to his son, Iemitsu pulled up his shirt, exposing the ugly scars reminiscent of Xanxus' dying will scars. "We aren't compatible son." He explained.

Tsuna knew the story of course, Iemitsu had tried to tell him many years ago that this was the real reason he hadn't stayed with Tsuna. Beyond the toxic and brutal Hyper Intuition, Tsuna and Iemitsu had an entirely rare condition where their flames were non-compatible. Given that they were father and son, both held sky flames (though Iemitsu was a secondary sky) and were Vongola's this was entirely unprecedented. Usually this incompatibility meant that the child never unlocked their flames, or never made it full term. In this case it was lucky that Iemitsu was rarely around during Nana's pregnancy.

Before Tsuna was sealed, and before he had the iron control he had now, Tsuna and Iemitsu's flames reacted like opposing immune systems. Their skin-to-skin contact often appeared like a rash, and if Tsuna was in Iemitsu's arms when he was distressed his flames often lashed out against Iemitsu's. In fact the scar came from a time that Iemitsu was a lone with Tsuna as a baby; Tsuna had been crying and when Iemitsu's flames had shifted forward to harmonize Tsuna and calm him Tsuna's flames had reacted violently. The room – luckily sparsely furnished- had caught fire in the resulting explosion of sky flames. Iemitsu had been more than winded, he had the scars splayed across his chest where Tsuna had been held. Tsuna almost ended up in a coma, if it hadn't been for the Vongola medics stationed in Namimori he probably would have.

But from that moment Iemitsu tried his best to never be home with the emotional toddler that was his son.

"As a child yes, but the Ninth sealed me when I was four or five, sealed flames would not have reacted that way." Tsuna snapped, not liking all these excuses.

"Even then, son." Iemitsu scoffed. "Vongola blood, even sealed….you were young and every time you got hurt I couldn't allow you to even leave the living room, or walk. It was unhealthy."

Tsuna narrowed his eyes, harsh and calculating. His Father hadn't lied, no. Tsuna would have been able to tell, his Hyper Intuition being as powerful as it was, and he was a superior sky. Iemitsu had nothing on Tsuna. However, there was a humming, a righteous anger in Tsuna's intuition.

"I understand Vongola blood better than most, Tou-san." Tsuna explains slowly, "I'm the one the rings chose, I'm the one Giotto talks to and I'm the one who synthesises flame. I understand that our flames aren't compatible, weren't compatible especially when I was a child. But that's no excuse."

Iemitsu looks confused, chest puffing out as he built up his argument, Tsuna though, with flashing orange eyes put Iemitsu down.

"No. You couldn't be with me, fine. I don't expect anyone to let themselves burn, though _I_ would for my children. We live in an age, Iemitsu, where you can be present without being present."

Iemitsu's eyes widened, thinking about his own job and all the methods he implemented daily to keep in touch with the various organizations and famiglia around the world. Methods he hadn't even thought of applying to the boy he left in Japan.

"You could have called more often, skyped now and then, you could have send a letter once in a while, or for gods-sake, Iemitsu. You could have fucking text me. You have enough money to pay for a phone and international texts. You have _no_ excuse for our relationship. None what so ever."

"Tsuna."

"No. We are where we are because of you. Your blood, your choices, and your decision to do only the bare minimum. So you have no place, here and now to decide that I should listen to your advice, nor should you dictate my happiness. I have fathers, and uncles, and brothers and sisters and they have been better for me than you ever have. They would be better even if simply measuring the effort they have put into our relationship."

Tsuna neither huffed nor panted. He said his piece, he was not angry anymore, he was allowed to feel the way he did. He gained nothing from this exchange, not even satisfaction.

"Tsuna, I did it all to protect you and your mother, the mafia…if I had died you would have never known why…or how."

"Ah," Tsuna hummed, standing and adjusting his suit like Reborn had taught him. Standing tall and square like Timoteo has explained. Exuding all of his strength like Xanxus had coached as they strode together. "To protect me from this famiglia. I understand you did, but were you protecting yourself instead, from the responsibility of birthing a Vongola heir? I thought you were dead for more of my life than I have thought you alive, I don't know what you were protecting me from, because had you died, as a child I wouldn't have noticed a difference anyway."

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 **And that's it. A bit harsh, but it was a bit of an exploration nonetheless.**

 **~~Bleach-ed-Na-tsu :3**


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